itself, which is given in the Appendix, as a remarkable illustration of the period. deen Toghluk 1389. Aboo Bukr 1389. Deposed in Nasir-ood succeeds, king of Gheias-ood-deen proved a very unworthy successor of so good a monarch as his grandfather, and after a brief reign of Gheias-oodfive months in continued debauchery, was put to death succeeds, 1388. on February 18, 1389, in a revolt by his own brother Put to death, and cousins. Aboo Bukr, another grandson of the late king, succeeded him; but, after reigning till Novem- succeeds, ber 27 of the same year, was deposed by Mahomed, who had fled from Dehly after his father's abdication, the same and who was now recalled to the capital by the united year. desire of all parties, and ascended the throne under the deen Mahoappellation of Nasir-ood-deen Mahomed Toghluk, on med Toghluk February 21, 1390. His rival, Aboo Bukr, had how- 1390. ever many partisans, and resided in the city; and on Robert III. April 18, being reinforced by Bahadur Nahir of Meerut, Scotland. probably a converted Hindoo chieftain, he attacked Nasir-ooddeen, and drove him out of Dehly. But throughout this year the contention for the capital continued, and it was sometimes in the hands of one and sometimes of the other of the rivals: at length Aboo Bukr fled to Meerut, and Nasir-ood-deen was again seated on the throne. Until his death the kingdom seems to have been at peace, except from a few unimportant insurrections by the turbulent Rajpoots, and an attempt by the Mewatees under Bahadur Nahir to plunder Dehly, which was defeated by the king in person; and his exertions on this occasion brought on a severe fever, of which he died on February 19, 1394. Nasir-oodHis son Hoomayoon succeeded him; but also died sud- deen Toghluk denly, after a reign of forty-five days. Much confusion Hoomayoon ensued on the unexpected death of the last king, and succeeds the choice of a successor was difficult. However, Mahmood, son of the late King Nasir-ood-deen Mahomed, succeeds. was at length chosen; but the kingdom was already distracted by factions, and serious disorders began to arise. The vizier assumed the title of Mullik-oos-Shurk, and was the first to declare independence, at Joonpoor, in Bengal; the Gukkurs had risen in rebellion; Guzerat revolted, and became an independent kingdom; and Malwah and Khandesh followed the same example. Meanwhile factious disputes among the nobles ran high at Dehly. Some remained with the king, others espoused the cause of Noosrut Khan, the grandson of the late Feroze Toghluk. One party possessed Old Dehly, and the other Ferozabad; and the civil war between them, in which the provinces took no part, continued at the capital for three years, or until 1396, during which period constant bloodshed prevailed. In that year King Mahmood fell dies, 1394. and dies. Mahmood into the power of Ekbál Khan, and became a mere cipher in his hands; but Ekbál Khan had succeeded in expelling Noosrut Khan and his partisans from the city, and might have succeeded in restoring order to the government, when Teimoor, or Tamerlane, Teimoor crosses the Indus, 1398. whose advanced army under his son was already engaged in the western provinces, crossed the Indus on September 12, 1398, and marched rapidly upon Dehly. CHAPTER XI. OF THE INVASION OF TEIMOOR, AND CONCLUSION OF THE TOGHLUK DYNASTY; AND ESTABLISHMENT AND TERMINATION OF THE SYED DYNASTY, A.D. 1398 TO 1478. Mahomed captures Mooltan. INTELLIGENCE of the disorders at Dehly, and the general distraction of the empire, appears to have reached Teimoor at Sarmacand in 1396. Previous to this, his grandson, Peer Mahomed, had overrun the countries west of the Indus, and now advanced into India. Instead, however, of marching at once upon Dehly, he turned southwards, and attacked Mooltan, of which, after a siege Prince Peer of six months, he obtained possession ; but here most of his horses died, and he was unable to undertake further operations. Teimoor himself, as has been already stated, crossed the Indus on September 12, 1398. The governor of the Punjab, Moobaruk Khan, made an ineffectual attempt to oppose the advanced guard of the Moghuls, and after a short resistance in an intrenched camp, left his force, sailed down the Chenab, and Telmoor escaped; and Teimoor's army encountered no further occupies the resistance in that province. Without waiting to besiege Toolumba, he sent 30,000 horse to reinforce his his grandson, grandson, and following them in person, was met by the prince on the road. Bhutnáir, the rajah of which had acted against the prince during his investment of Mooltan, was taken by assault, and the defenders and inhabitants of the city massacred without distinction. Teimoor had appointed Keithul as the place of general rendezvous for the army, which, during his absence from it, had meanwhile pillaged the Punjab and Mooltan and now advanced upon Dehly by the route of Paniput. Punjab, and rejoins The army As Teimoor was reconnoitring, the king and his vizier sallied out of the city at the head of 5,000 horse; but in the skirmish marches on that ensued were driven back, and the next day Teimoor took up a new and more commanding position. When he had been attacked by the king, the captives Dehly, which Telmoor invests. to death. 1399. Toghluk is towards Teimoor is in his camp, Hindoos and Mahomedans, brought on by the army, expressed their joy at the hope of speedy deliverance; whereupon Teimoor, considering that so large a number might en- He puts all danger his position, directed them all, above the age of his prisoners fifteen years, to be put to death in cold blood. Ferishta states they were 100,000 of all classes, which may be an exaggeration; but this does not diminish the atrocity of the deed. On January 13, 1399, Teimoor encamped on the plain of Battle of Ferozabad, and on the 15th formed his line of battle. January 15, The King Mahmood and his vizier, with all the avail- King able troops and 120 elephants, marched out of Dehly Mahmood to encounter him, but were defeated, and fled back to defeated. the city, from which the king and his vizier escaped during the night, the king in the direction of Guzerat. Teimoor He escapes did not, however, enter the city; but on the next Guzerat. Friday, being the Mahomedan sabbath, he caused himself to be proclaimed emperor of India, and the public proclaimed prayers to be read in his name. His next step was to India. impose a contribution upon the inhabitants; and the refusal of many of them to pay brought on a collision with the Moghul troops, which, after continuing for several days, ended His exactions in a general and indiscriminate massacre of the people, and massacre and the city was given up to pillage, during which Teimoor was employed in giving a great entertainment to his officers, and does not seem to have taken any steps to check the proceedings of his brutal soldiery. He remained at Dehly only fifteen days, and then set out on his return homewards. Meerut was taken, and the garrison put to the sword; returns to Lahore fell to a detachment, and whoever opposed his progress was in turn defeated or destroyed. Teimoor left no garrisons in India; but he appointed Syed Khizr Khan, the viceroy of Lahore, as his deputy.1 emperor of of the people. Teimoor his country. Henry IV. king of England. After an attempt to retain the capital, made by Noosrut Khan, who was expelled by the Vizier Ekbál Khan, some order was restored by the latter; but his authority extended only to a few districts outside the city. All the other provinces of the empire were held by the several viceroys as independent kingdoms. They are thus enumerated by the Mahomedan historian:-'Guzerat, by Mozuffer Khan; Kanouj, provinces. Oude, Kuna, and Joonpoor, by Khwaja Jehan, commonly called. Shah Shurk; Lahore, Depalpoor, and Mooltan, by Khizr Khan; Sámáná, by Ghalib Khan; Byana, by Shumsh Khan Abdy; Independent 1 The student is recommended to read the 'Mulfuzát-Timuri,' or Autobiography of Teimoor, translated by Major Stewart. King Dehly. Attempts vizier to recover revolted provinces, in one of which he is slain, 1405. Mahmood 1412, and his ceases. Kalpy and Mahoba, by Mahomed Khan; all of whom styled themselves kings.' In the year 1401, King Mahmood, who had been the guest of Mozuffer Shah of Guzerat, returns to left his court and returned to Dehly, still held in his name by the vizier Ekbál Khan; but he took no part in public affairs, receiving a pension which was allotted to him. Soon afterwards, on the death of the King of Joonpoor, an attempt was made by the vizier to recover that territory, which ended in failure and the king, instead of occupying Dehly, went to reside at Kanouj. The vizier now employed the forces under his command against several of the revolted chiefs, with various made by the success, between 1402 and 1405; and on November 14 of that year was slain in a battle between the troops of the Punjab and his own. The king now visited Dehly, on the invitation of Doulut Khan Lody; but returned to Kanouj, from which place, however, he was expelled; and again reached the capital, where he resided till his death, from fever, in February 1412, after an Toghluk dies, inglorious and unfortunate reign of twenty years. With dynasty him closed the Toghluk dynasty, as it is not mentioned that he left any heirs. He was succeeded, according to an election by the nobles, by Doulut Khan Lody Afghan, who, after the death of Ekbál Khan, had acted as vizier and comDoulut Khan mander of the army, and had done his utmost to restore order. He ascended the throne in April 1412; but was obliged to defend himself against Khizr Khan, viceroy of Lahore, who, in the interests of Teimoor, attacked Dehly, and forced the king to surrender. was thereupon imprisoned, and died on June 4, 1416. There now ceased to be any king of Dehly. Khizr Khan held his authority on behalf of the Emperor Teimoor, and supported his position by aid of the Punjab and Mooltan forces, which had been under his orders. Khizr Khan was an active and successful general, and recovered many of the outlying provinces. He was engaged in constant operations in the field from 1416 to 1421, when he died at Dehly on May 20, to the great grief of the people, who had become deeply attached to him on account of the justice and modeSyed Moo- ration of his character. He was succeeded in his aubaruk suc- thority by his son Moobaruk, who lived till January 28, 1435, when he was murdered by some Hindoos in the pay of parties to whom he had given offence. It does not seem necessary to follow the particular events of the successions of the Syeds, as the condition of Dehly did not change. No impression was made upon the new kingdoms which had been Lody suc ceeds, 1412. Battle of Agincourt, 1415. And dies in prison, 1416. Syed Khizr Khan conducts the government. Dies, 1421. ceeds. Murdered, 1435. He homed suc established, and the records of the local historians only furnish details of minor campaigns against subordinates who revolted from time to time. The successions of the Syeds after Moobaruk are as follows:-Syed Mahomed, 1435 to 1445, when he Syed Madied; Syed Alla-ood-deen, his son, from 1445 to 1478, ceeds, and of which period he reigned seven years, and having dies, 1445. nominally abdicated in favour of his brother, resided Alla-ood-deen for the rest of the time at Budaoon. He had adopted Abdicates, Bheilole Lody as his successor, who, in fact, had con- 1452, and ducted the affairs of state since Alla-ood-deen's retirement. The administration of the four Syeds in succes- Palæologus sion had lasted from 1416 to 1478, or 62 years. succeeds. dies, 1478. Constantine emperor. CHAPTER XII, OF THE AFGHAN DYNASTY OF LODY, A.D. 1478 to 1526. Origin of Lody. BHEILOLE LODY was descended from a rich family of Afghan merchants, who traded between Kabool and India; some of whom, as was common at the period, entered the service of the sovereign of India from time to time. The uncle of Bheilole, in the action between Khizr Khan, the viceroy of Lahore, and the vizier Ekbál Khan, had slain the latter in single combat, and was rewarded by the governorship of Sirhind. It is related by Ferishta, that the wife of this person's brother, when pregnant, was killed by the fall of her house; but the His birth child being still alive, was taken from her body, and and career. under the name of Bheilole grew up to be a favourite with his uncle, received his daughter in marriage, and on his death, succeeded to his command. In course of time, the Afghan party at Sirhind became too powerful to escape notice, especially when they began to take the adjoining districts into their possession; and they were attacked and driven into the mountains, where many perished; but Bheilole, to whom a superstitious influence was attached, on account of his birth, escaped. After some vicissitudes, he recovered Sirhind; and when he found himself strong enough, marched upon the capital, to which he laid siege; but this expedition was not successful. During the reign or administration of Syed Alla-ood-deen, however, he was invited to Dehly by the vizier, whom he ultimately supplanted and deprived of power, and remained there after the abdication or retirement of Alla-ooddeen until his death, as has been recorded in the last chapter. |